


Remember That I Will Always Love You

by blackpercy



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, The Maze Runner AU, and percy is newt, based off of the events of the last book, bc newtmas rights mothertrucker, bro this a maze runner AU, btw this isn't super gory or anything akjndaj, rachel is thomas, so there are detail that have been Removed, this is based off of it btw, yall know that chapter in the death cure we dont talk about
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26384590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackpercy/pseuds/blackpercy
Summary: First, he had told her to survive. To survive for him, and to be happy wherever they ended up.Then, he had smiled through the tears and said “Remember that I’ll always love you.”
Relationships: Rachel Elizabeth Dare & Percy Jackson, Rachel Elizabeth Dare/Percy Jackson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Remember That I Will Always Love You

**Author's Note:**

> this is angst

The air in the shelter was dank, and dismal.

The roof was stained with water patches and the walls sprayed with graffiti, but they wouldn’t find them here. No, they _couldn’t_ find them here. Leo and Nyssa had put up defense upon defense to hide the team from their pursuers, to make sure they were safe.

And they were. For the most part.

Percy Jackson sat on a table, alone with his thoughts. He sat on that table every day because it reminded him of sunlight, and sunlight reminded him of better times.

His thumb absentmindedly traced the pattern ingrained in the wood. His head was down, black, messy, long curls flopping in his eyes.

“Percy,” 

He looked up to see Rachel. She was hugging her shoulders, giving her an air of smallness. Her big, copper red, wooly hair was tied up in a messy bun. If you didn’t know her, you’d guess she was an easy target. Good thing Percy knew her.

She moved to sit next to him, intertwining their hands.

“You okay?”

Percy shrugged, “As okay as you can be when you're slowly being turned into a monster by the day,”

Rachel smiled sadly, “We’ll find a cure, Percy.”

He shook his head, jet black curls flying out. “Rache, you know we won’t.”

Two weeks ago, Percy had been bitten by a Crank. He had been reckless fighting the creatures and he’d been bitten by a _bugging Crank_. He was their most formidable fighter, and well liked for the most part, but most had kept their distance when they’d discovered. 

He had been a leader in the Glades, the oldest at eighteen. Nobody had expected Percy to get bitten, but he did and there was nothing anyone could do.

Annabeth, the oldest of the girls in the other Glades, had suggested Percy take a break from planning the strike on WICKED. He had protested, but they’d kicked him out of the meetings anyway. He knew that it was mainly for their peace of mind and everybody else’s. 

Nobody wanted to be in the presence of a soon to be Crank for too long. It was an understandable worry, but Percy still wished everybody wasn’t so wary around him.

Except for Rachel. Rachel stayed, and Rachel still cracked jokes and dragged him to the roof at night to look for the stars they could find. Rachel was still Rachel, she was still wonderful.

She squeezed his hand, making Percy look at her. He saw a determination in her light green eyes.

“Percy, I’m not giving up on you. I’m not gonna…” she steeled her expression. “I’m not gonna let you go.”

She reached up and brushed the curls out of his eyes, letting her fingers linger on his brow. Before she could pull her hand away, Percy caught it.

“Rache, I need you to promise me something.”

Rachel’s eyebrows furrowed until she realized what he meant from his stare. She began to shake her head, realization and horror flooding her face.

“Percy, I’m not gonna do that, _don’t ask me to do that_ -“

“Rachel-“

“I am _not_ going to kill you!” 

Rachel jerked away, rising to her feet. Her voice rang like a bell in the nearly empty shelter hall. She stared at him, and part of Percy, the part he was most afraid of, was furious. _Why wouldn’t she listen to him? Why wouldn’t she hear him?_

He pushed down the rage. It was the Crank speaking. Every day he could feel less of him and more of that...thing. It made him paranoid, it made him irrationally angry sometimes, and he _hated_ it. 

“Rachel,” he said softly, taking her hand. Her hands were kind of soft, kind of calloused. Interesting to hold.

She shook her head adamantly, “Percy we are going to find a cure. We’re gonna...we’re gonna defeat WICKED and we’re gonna..”

She didn’t even finish her sentence, she just launched herself to him and hugged him tightly. Percy was a bit taken aback, but he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her and trying his best not to break down in her arms. 

“Rache, I’m not scared of...dying.” He said after a couple of moments. He had been thinking of this for a long time, he’d certainly had the time. He wasn’t. Death didn’t scare him half as much as the possibility of him hurting his friends did.

He went on, “I can’t hurt the people around me, I just can’t.”

She stayed silent, but she squeezed him a little bit, which was how he knew she was listening.

“When I get too far, and you’ll know when I do, shoot me.”

Again, that tiny squeeze, like she was checking to make sure he was still there.

Percy pulled away a little bit, staring her in the eyes somberly. She didn’t look away.

“Rachel, promise me on your parents’ graves.”

She didn’t say anything. Percy stared at her, the red curls framing a brown, spotted face. Her lips were drawn tight into a line, which was the most somber he’d ever seen her.

Finally, she spoke. 

“I promise.”

Then she cupped his face, leaned in, and pressed her lips to his in a kiss that could make him forget the dark reality they lived in, and make him hope for better.

* * *

When the day had come, Rachel hadn’t been ready.

She didn’t think she could ever be ready to kill someone she loved but it was even worse because their small group had literally been running from Cranks.

Percy had lost his temper in the plane, and not in the normal way. He’d lunged at Hazel then punched the wall so hard he’d busted his knuckles.

The signs of Percy losing his sanity and humanity had been steadily showing. His eyes had been bloodshot and his hair had been even rougher from the number of times he’d tugged at it in pure frustration.

Rachel would sometimes catch Percy staring at a point in space with inhuman concentration, and sometimes he’d look at her with a strange unfamiliarity like she was...prey.

He had glanced at Hazel, then at his knuckles, then at the wall, before staring Rachel in the eyes. He called upon his promise.

They had sneaked away from the fight with the Cranks. She only had a couple of minutes to do it, but she sobbed the entire time.

Percy had pulled her close, and he’d squeezed her so _tightly_ she thought she would pop.

“You’ve been the best part about everything,” he whispered to her (which had only made her cry harder).

Rachel had held his face and wiped away the tears and Percy had made an offhand comment about how he had imagined his last days with more blood and less water, which made Rachel laugh and sob.

She had reached up and let her fingertips trace his face. Every detail of Percy Jackson, she memorized. His sea-glass eyes, his dark, unruly curls, brown skin spotted with acne, thick eyelashes she’d secretly coveted.

She wanted to remember his face.

Before he had pulled away, Percy had kissed her knuckles, the ones carrying the shotgun.

She had taken a step back and sniffed through the sobs. She had told him she loved him and he had leaned his forehead on hers, cradled her face, and said two things.

First, he'd told her to survive. To survive for him, and to be happy wherever she ended up. He didn't want her to live a life of regret and he didn't want her to blame herself, either.

Then, he had smiled through the falling tears and said “Remember that I’ll always love you.”

He didn’t have anything more to say, so he’d smiled softly at _her_. Even though Rachel was supposed to put a bullet in his brain, even though the last time they would see each other was under terrible circumstances. Percy still smiled at Rachel with love in his eyes and nodded for her to do it.

Then she had pulled the trigger.

Rachel remembered not caring if the Cranks got her, she just remembered sitting there at his feet and sobbing her eyes out. She had probably sounded crazy, but at the time she hadn’t cared.

She could only care about Percy Jackson, lying dead on the floor.

* * *

Rachel didn’t tell anyone.

When she had done it, when she had killed Percy, she didn't tell anyone and she had spent the rest of the day trying not to cry. 

She hadn’t had much time to grieve him because once she had shot him, it was off to the races to WICKED, and then, the organization collapsed and they escaped into the only safe place in the country (they assumed).

A place of tall, green trees touching a clear blue sky awaited them. The clouds were large, and a perfect shade of white, unlike the clouds from the outside world, which had been a dark, sickening gray. A stream babbled, it's pristine waters shining in the afternoon sun. The haunting silence of abandoned earth could not find them here. The area was full of life, peace, and hope. It was paradise in the literal sense of the word.

Some paradise.

Rachel would see the river and remember Percy, him, and his fascination with water and its movement. She would see a flower and for some reason, it would remind her of him.

Rachel didn’t sleep much, even in paradise. When she closed her eyes she could only see him. Sometimes she’d close her eyes and see his corpse, glassy eyes looking up. Sometimes she’d see his smile, with that tiny dimple showing in his left cheek. 

Either way, when she did, she went outside to look at the sky, and look for stars like they used to.

The activity didn’t feel right when it was just her. She wanted to grab Percy's hand and raise it to the heavens as she had before. She wanted to shout and dance and spin under his arms. She wanted to feel his arm around her shoulders and lean her head on his chest like she used to. Rachel wanted to spend hours looking for beauty in their ugly, ugly world with him. Only him. 

But that wasn't possible anymore. They could outsmart WICKED, but they couldn't outsmart death.

Rachel felt the breeze lift the stray hairs off her head. She closed her eyes and hugged her arms, imagining that Percy was going to be there in the morning, ready to take a walk in the woods with her.

Rachel opened her eyes and the sight above was unlike anything she had ever seen.

At the Glade, there hadn’t been many stars, just a black, velvet sky, and the occasional twinkle, but here there were so many.

She couldn’t even count them. They just hung there in the cosmos, against the dark backdrop, and _shined_.

Just then, Rachel had an idea. She raised her hand to the sky, and instead of imagining Percy next to her, she imagined him watching over her. She smiled.

“Say hi to him for me,” she whispered to the gleaming stars, tears welling in her eyes. “And tell him I’m gonna be alright.”

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment and a kudos please


End file.
